FISHES OF NEW YORK 483 



plemental maxillary lost or very much reduced, and the 

 opercular flap always with an orange patch on its lower 

 posterior part. Gill rakers various, usually short. The reten- 

 tion of this genus is possibly justified by convenience, but 

 neither the longer pectorals nor the blunt pharyngeals separate 

 it sharply from L e p o m i s. 



240 Eupomotis gibbosus (Linnaeus) 



Sun fish; Pumplcin Seed 



Perca gihhosa Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. X, I, 292, 1758, Carolina. 



Sparus aureus Walbaum, Artedi. Gen. Pise. 290, 1792, lakes of New York. 



Morone maculata Mitchill, Report in Part, 19, 1814. 



Pomotis vulgaris Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, 91, 1829, 



Lake Huron, New York, Virginia; and Carolina; De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, 



Fishes, 31, pi. 51, fig. 1G6, 1842; Holbrook:, Ichth. S. C. 6, pi. 1, fig. 2, 



1856. 

 Pomotis auritus Gijnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. I, 261, 1859. 

 / Lepomis gihbosus Joedan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 482, 1883; 



Meek, Ann. N. Y. Ac. Sci. IV, 313, 1888; Bean, Fishes, Penna. 115, pi. 



32, fig. 65, 1893. 

 Eupomotis aureus Mather, App. 12th Kept. Adirondack Surv. N, Y. 7, 



1886. 

 Eupomotis gihhosus Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1009, 



1896, pi. CLXI, fig. 429, 1900; Bean, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist IX, 364, 



1897; Mearns, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. X, 320, 1898; Eugene Smith, 



Proc. Linn. Soc. N. Y. 1897, 35, 1898; Bean, 52d Ann. Kept. N. Y. State 



Mus. 104, 1900. 



The body of the common sunfish is nearly ovate, its depth 

 one half the total length without caudal; its thickness one third 

 of the depth. The caudal peduncle is short and compressed, 

 its least depth less than the thickness of the body. The head 

 is moderately large, one third of the total length without 

 caudal, its width one half its length. The snout is short anh 

 depressed, its length four fifths of the diameter of the eye, 

 which is one fourth as long as the head. The interorbital space 

 is nearly flat, its width one and one half times the diameter of 

 the eye. The mouth is small and oblique; the maxilla not much 

 expanded behind and reaching to below the front of the eye. 

 Scales on the cheeks in four rows. The opercular spot is short, 

 less than two thirds the diameter of the eye, and has a whitish 

 margin behind. The gill rakers are very short, moderately 

 stout, 10 or 11 developed on the first arch, the longest less than 



